My thoughts on life, the universe and everything
Archive for year 2011
Labour imagining things in Feltham and Heston
Dec 16th
Tweet On the night of December 15th, 2011, it was announced that Seema Malhotra had been elected as the new MP for Feltham and Heston and the newest member of parliament for Labour. This was a by-election that was caused by the untimely death of Alan Keen, who had been the MP for that constituency…
Carer Case Study #1: Sarah
Dec 9th
Tweet Some of you will remember a post I did called ‘Caring for the Carers‘. I went through the history of the Carers Allowance, mentioned the present situation and also advertised my campaign. The goal is for Carers Allowance to be increased so that it equals the National Minimum Wage. In an era of austerity,…
Remember Zimbabwe?
Dec 5th
Tweet Ever since 2008, I’ve maintained an interest in the politics of Zimbabwe. The Presidential election that took place that year was controversial (to say the least) and there was plenty of violence and corruption. Robert Mugabe (ZANU-PF) was re-elected, despite the first round of voting being narrowly won by Morgan Tsvangirai (MDC-T). In the…
GMB and Unite don’t know what a majority is
Nov 18th
Tweet As many of you will know, trade unions are in uproar about the changes to public sector pensions that the Coalition want to make because of the economic slowdown. The PCS, which is a large public sector union, has produced a list of those groups who support the industrial action being taken on November…
The use of Unparliamentary Language
Nov 2nd
Tweet If you watch coverage the House of Commons, or even an edition of Prime Ministers questions, you will notice that debates can (occasionally) get quite heated. For some, it can be seen as a source of entertainment, but there needs to be limits. Politicians must maintain a certain level of professionalism and give the…
Going paperless – is it possible?
Oct 30th
Tweet As I sit here putting this blog post together, I have not needed a single piece of paper. Despite making use of a number of sources, nothing was printed. There are many other situations in society around the world where paper isn’t needed too. With that in mind, you have to wonder why there…
Dorries defeated
Sep 8th
Tweet To be honest, the result wasn’t surprising given the strength of feeling on the matter, which I mentioned in my previous blog post. Nadine Dorries‘s amendment about abortion counselling failed at the voting stage, with 118 Ayes and 368 Noes. It was a crushing defeat that came after some spirited and controversial debate. Some…
The Dorries Amendments
Sep 5th
Tweet Nadine Dorries is a Conservative MP with a distinct set of views on a range of matters. Most recently, she tabled a set of amendments to the Health and Social Care Bill that have a focus on abortion. This follows on from an Early Day Motion sposored by Therese Coffey (and supported by Dorries).…
Riots cause social media clampdown?
Aug 16th
Tweet It’s undeniable that social media has changed both society and the lives of many people. It has created new jobs and removed the need for others. It has a huge number of positive aspects, but it was shown in a bad light recently thanks to the rioting and looting. It was (repeatedly) reported that…
Caring for the Carers
Aug 13th
Tweet There are many people around the country who – for whatever reason – are unable to adequately take care of themselves. Inmany situations, the selfless actions of a group of Carers make the lives of those people better and more manageable. I have been lucky enough to know some of these people (one former…